PORTAL TO SAFER ROADS

AN open letter to Lancashire Police & Crime Commissioner, Andrew Snowden:

In the 21 May edition of the Rossendale Free Press there are five separate reports of road crashes in Rossendale.

There is also a picture of a Police Community Support Officer monitoring speeds whilst wearing a high viz yellow jacket and standing by a police car covered in high viz decals.

No doubt there was very little speeding past that officer.

Those five crashes are only the ones reported, and only for one week, and represent a tiny proportion of the potential crashes that might have happened as a consequence of the appalling risks taken by some drivers that we witness on a daily basis.

In May 2017 the Gwynedd Police introduced a trial scheme called ‘Operation Snap’ whereby anybody with a dashcam or similar device, (including cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians), could upload videos of dangerous road incidents via a simple portal.

The police undertook to take action wherever there was sufficient evidence.

The scheme was so dramatically successful in improving driver behaviour that by the end of the year every Welsh police force had joined.

The portal automatically transfers details to the correct force and saves some 12 hours processing time resulting in an exceptionally cheap and effective road policing initiative.

In 2019 the scheme was extended to English police forces. With the exception of Lancashire, every police force in the North West has joined.

The majority of all other English forces have also joined. The West Midlands Police recently described it as a “game changer”, stating that “For every 1 police officer, there are 750 dashcams.”

The portal is simple, the same whichever police area you are in and well proven.

Mr Snowden is newly appointed as Lancashire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and cannot be held responsible for Lancashire’s failure to join one of the most effective road policing initiatives in modern times. Until now.

So, Mr Snowden, please tell us when we can enjoy the same level of protection as that provided to other UK residents.

Colin Hubbard Whitworth